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Louisville football defense falls flat as Miami hands Cards their worst loss of the season

Louisville quarterback Micale Cunningham fakes a handoff to running back Javian Hawkins, left, during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2019, in Miami Gardens, Fla. Wilfredo Lee, AP

Miami wide receiver Dee Wiggins (8) celebrates his touchdown as he heads back to the sideline with teammates during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Louisville, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2019, in Miami Gardens, Fla. Others from left, Robert Burns, K.J. Osborn and Mike Harley. Wilfredo Lee, AP

Louisville quarterback Micale Cunningham grimaces as he looks into the stands during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Miami, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2019, in Miami Gardens, Fla. Wilfredo Lee, AP

Louisville head coach Scott Satterfield grimaces as he walks the sideline during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Miami, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2019, in Miami Gardens, Fla. Wilfredo Lee, AP

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Coming off its bye week, Louisville put together one of its worst performances of the season.

Kicking off the final third of the season the Cardinals lost to Miami 52-27. The 52 points mark the second most Louisville has given up this season and most in a loss.

Similar to the Florida State loss, the Cardinals got off to a slow start. Miami had a 21-7 lead heading into the second quarter, but this time Louisville could not bounce back.

Its defense, which played well against Virginia before the bye week, couldn’t contain Miami’s offense. And when Louisville got going offensively, the Cardinals struggled with penalties that stalled drives.

"You give credit to coach (Manny) Diaz, he and his staff, had them ready to play," Louisville coach Scott Satterfield said. "I think they were coming off their best game they’ve played all year against FSU. They came in here, particularity offensively, hitting on all cylinders."

The Cardinals fell to 5-4 (3-3 ACC) on the season and remain just one win away from bowl eligibility. Miami moved to 6-4 and 4-3 in the ACC, claiming bowl eligibility and winning its third straight game.

Micale Cunningham completed 12 of 18 passes for 219 yards, two touchdowns and one interception before leaving the game with an injury in the third quarter. Wide receiver Tutu Atwell, in his return home to Miami, had 142 yards and one touchdown.

Louisville’s defense still has major issues

After putting its best performance together against Virginia, Louisville had arguably its worst on Saturday.

Louisville had no answer for Miami despite having a week off to prepare. The Cardinals gave up 449 total yards and allowed redshirt freshman quarterback Jarren Williams to set a school record with six touchdown passes.

"The one thing that does worry you is our defense gives up big plays. Virginia wasn’t a big play team, and these guys were able to hit big plays," Satterfield said.

The 52 points scored by Miami was the most it has scored against an ACC opponent and came from an offense that has struggled all season long.

It entered the game averaging 27 points per game, which was helped by a 63-point performance against Bethune-Cookman. Before playing Louisville, the Hurricanes hadn’t scored more than 35 points against any FBS opponent. In fact, only twice had it put up 27 or more points against an FBS opponent.

Louisville's poor defensive performance can be attributed to many things. The Cardinals had a nonexistent pass rush against an offensive line that has given up 31 sacks this season, the third-most in the ACC. Louisville tallied just one sack and three quarterback hurries.

The Miami offensive line didn't make any extra adjustments that defensive tackle G.G. Robinson saw.

"We just didn't get enough pressure like we needed to get, at all," he said.

With the lack of a pass rush, Williams was able to sit in the pocket and deliver the ball to his playmakers with ease. He completed passes to seven different receivers and averaged 16.8 yards per completion.

"Way too many points we were giving up on the back end and we weren’t getting any pressure," Satterfield said. "If you aren’t getting pressure then your guys in the back will have to cover longer and they have talented players."

Louisville's defense was praised for its performance against Virginia two weeks ago. It took a major step back against Miami, despite having its entire roster healthy.

While Satterfield gives the Miami offense credit, he said most of those points were because of Louisville's mental mistakes.

Louisville lost 52-27 to Miami as the defense fails to slow down the Hurricanes' offense. Scott Satterfield discusses the loss, gives injury updates.
Louisville Courier Journal

Louisville still committing mental mistakes

Louisville has a term for mental mistakes — “MAs” or missed assignments. They’ve been a problem all season long, and they popped up again on Saturday.

The Cardinals had 14 penalties for 121 yards, exceeding the season average of 53 penalty yards per game. Penalties haven’t been a major problem this year — Louisville has cut its average down from the 71 yards per game last year — but they were on Saturday.

Satterfield credited the early false start penalties to the noise from the 53,111 people in attendance.

"The rest we will have to go see," Satterfield said. "It was not good penalty wise."

Louisville had back-to-back face-mask penalites that led to Miami's first scoring drive, two unsportsmanlike penalties in the game and an offsides on a kickoff.

In fact, Robinson didn't even think about them throughout most of the game. He was more worried about the blown assignments on the defensive end.

"When you have mental busts and errors, you aren't going to win the football game," Robinson said.

Penalties weren’t the only missed assignments on Saturday. When Louisville goes back to watch film, it’ll see missed coverages, tackles and blocks that cost it any chance of competing with Miami.

Miami took advantage of Louisville's miscues and ran away with the game.

Offensive line takes step back after strong October

Louisville ran for just 168 yards against Miami, the third lowest total of the season.

The strength of Miami’s defense is the front seven. It allowed just 97.8 rushing yards entering Saturday and is fifth nationally in both sacks and tackles for a loss. It dominated Louisville’s offensive line.

The Hurricanes tallied three sacks and 14 tackles for a loss, the most the Cardinals have given up this season. Javian Hawkins, who ran for 91 yards, had struggled to find running room outside of two third-quarter runs of 26 and 43 yards. Other than that, Louisville struggled to move the ball on the ground all game.

Some of the struggles can be attributed to the loss of Mekhi Becton in the first quarter. He went down with an ankle injury and did not return to the game. The Cardinals have leaned on their potential NFL left tackle, running left when they need guaranteed yards.

"No, didn’t change the game plan," Satterfield said. "Probably had some negative yardage plays we had resulted in not having him out there. He’s a big force. One of the best offensive linemen out there."

If Becton is expected to miss time, the Cardinals will turn to Adonis Boone.